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Let me start by saying that Olivia loved Kindergarten, her classmates, and her teacher. It was a great way to start her school career. She was sad when it was over and asked on and off over the summer about when school would start again.
June brought us fun days at home, fun days out, and VBS. Olivia and Kinley did VBS at Ascension. They both really enjoyed themselves. We also explored Botanica, visited the library regularly, played in the sand, visited the park, and played at home. We took a family vacation to visit Hannah and James in Austin, TX at the end of June. It was an easy drive and a fun trip! We visited the Fort Worth Stockyards, then drove into Austin and stayed with Hannah and James at their new house. We visited the aquarium, Austin Nature Center, rode the train at the park, swam at a local pool/water park, and visited the Thinkery (children's museum). Hannah adventured with us and we caught up with James after work.
July flew by: We started with the 4th of July, then prepared to leave for a cruise! Sarah and Dan went with Susan and Dan Reazin on the Jesus Freak Cruise (DC Talk Reunion Cruise). It was fantastic. We left out of Miami. The ship was huge. Although their were a few rough sea days due to weather, most of the time you didn't even notice the boat movement. They had a concert each evening--Ryan Stevenson, Toby Mac, Newsboys, Kevin Max, and a big DC Talk reunion concert. There were also smaller concerts with a couple of other artists and a few talks and things you could also choose to attend. We spent time swimming and exploring the ship. We had a snorkel excursion in Nassau, Bahamas. Susan and Sarah really enjoyed themselves. We also walked around Nassau a bit. We spent one day at a private island on a beautiful teal water beach. Swimming and snorkeling again. We ate buffets and sit down meals, and a LOT of soft serve ice cream. To top off our trip, we drove to Orlando and spent a day at Universal Studios exploring Harry Potter World. We are really big kids. The rumor is that our girls had a great time with Grammy and Grandpa. They have already asked to spend time with Grammy and Grandpa again!
Sarah basically arrived home and unpacked and re packed to head to the National Down Syndrome Congress in Sacaramento, CA. It is a convention that is held every year--next year it is in Dallas. The Down Syndrome Society of Wichita paid for Sarah's conference registration, hotel, and airfare. Awesome! There was so much good information--I attended 6 different education sessions, talked with nearly every exhibitor there, and met lots of great parents and people with Down Syndrome.
After returning from 3 weeks off, it took a bit to get back into a routine. The break was refreshing and needed.
Olivia started school last week. She is in 1st grade. She reports her favorite thing is recess (she apparently gets 4 per her report). She also has enjoyed making new friends and trying the school lunch. I presume she's done academic work as well, based on her tired status in the evenings. We did discover she has a leg length discrepancy this summer and think that between that and her broken right ankle this time last year, she's been compensating for her lack of movement and has pain from this. We've been stretching, gotten a shoe insert, and kinesiotaping. Most days this seems to help, but not always. (Don't worry we've also done dairy elimination, checked for constipation, considered anxiety...) Olivia is energetic and fun to be around. She plays hard, but is sweet most of the time.
Kinley will start her last year of preschool in 1 week. She has a different teacher this year, which will hopefully be a good change for her. She (and Sarah) have been enjoying their full days together with Olivia at school and Emily napping in the afternoons. Kinley is passionate about her favorite things and has a great memory. She is also pretty funny. Dye-free and dairy-free seem to keep her on a much more even keel and she has really been in a good place this summer.
Emily started crawling 2 weeks ago! She's enjoying going from room to room and sometimes figuring out how to get someone to carry her there instead. She's had an explosion of new learning this summer--new words, signs, cognitive milestones. All good stuff. Her favorites right now are her Helen Oxenbury books that have babies in them, or most books. She still loves music and is enjoying some early pretend play. Today it was feeding a baby doll and combing it's hair.
Brisco got into some fleas this summer and hasn't fully recovered from that, but most days just enjoys his time in the basement with Dan.
Dan has been working hard on work--most recently completing an on air touch screen application for the news stations to use for the eclipse coverage. He's enjoying playing with 90 Proof, playing gigs about 3 nights a month. Look for their group at the Kansas State Fair in September. In addition to work and band, Dan is about 1/2 way into his Masters degree courses.
Sarah is managing all of the bodies, and paperwork, and house, and stuff. Some days with grace and other days with the status of a train wreck. She's been doing PiYo once a week and plans to get her workout in more regularly this fall. Her PRN job continues to keep her foot in the door. She has been offered several opportunities headed into fall--but for now we'll stay in the status quo. That may change next week!
We look forward to the fall weather and fun activities together.
